Unit 3 Blog - Personal Wellness

Lots of questions and even more reflection had to be taken before responding to this week's blog.  When rating my overall well-being, I find my Physical Well-being at a 7.  I am very healthy, but I don't exercise on a regular basis and could definitely lose some weight.  Despite this, all of my blood work and overall health exams come out very well.  I would rate my Psychological Well-being at an 8.  I begin my day with positive expectations and a deep inner knowing that each day will unfold for my highest good.  Even in knowing this, it doesn't mean that negative things happen at times that don't have a lesson in them for me.  The trick is in taking the time to look at the incident from a detached point of view and hopefully finding the lesson in it.  If this worked all the time, I would be at a 10 - so there is definitely some work to do in this area.  I am very comfortable rating my Spiritual Well-being at a 10.  I can do this because I know what I believe and I am comfortable with those beliefs.  I also am fine with the fact that there will be many other people who will disagree with my beliefs and who may even condemn them, but I'm OK with that.  I believe everyone is entitled to the belief system that feels right for them.

A goal to raise my level of Physical Well-being is to be more conscious of where the food I eat and serve my family is of the highest quality.  To this end, I was just reading an article on the use of uncommon cooking oils.  I was already aware that high temperatures can cause oils to go rancid and that most "rape seed" used in the making of canola oil comes from GMO seed.  I haven't used canola oil for a long time but I do regularly use olive oil, but has a very low heat tolerance.  The article I was reading suggested using grape seed oil, which I normally use in the preparation of my herbal balms because of it's small molecule and easy absorption into the skin.  The article explained that grape seed oil has a much higher rancidity level than olive oil and could therefore be used in cooking that requires higher temperatures, like stir-frying.  The article also suggested the use of coconut oil, which I have heard is being used in many restaurants, or ghee, or clarified butter, which is just the butter fat after the the water has been evaporated.  Since I already have grape seed oil on hand, I am going to try substituting it for the olive oil in any frying applications.  I am also monitoring my caloric intake and working on increasing my overall physical activity.

A goal for raising my Psychological Well-being is to attempt to live each day in awareness so I can respond to the situations around me and not react to them.

A goal for maintaining my Spiritual Well-being is to continue to not be offended by the judgement of others when it comes to my beliefs and to refrain from presenting any judgments on others.

When listening to the recording Crime of the Century, I actually found myself a bit frustrated.  This was not because of the recording itself but because I kept getting interrupted and had to start the recording over - several times.  When I finally found some alone time and began listening to the recording, it got about three-quarters of the way through and then stopped.  No matter what I did, I couldn't get the recording to finish.  Normally I really enjoy listening to these types of recordings but between the interruptions and the inability to finish it, I found myself feeling frustrated.

Mary